Called Out

There are some times in life when happenings around the globe grip us at a core level. For some reason, the recent earthquake in Haiti has gripped me in that way. I find myself thinking about Haiti, a place I've never been. Crying and praying for people I've never met.

Yesterday, I recorded a couple of my thoughts and a prayer with the help of my good friend, Fred.



The two best things we can do for our friends in Haiti are to pray and give.

Pray for:

• Physical Needs (like food, water, shelter, medical treatment)
• The Removal of any obstacles that would prevent help from reaching the need
• Peace
• Strength
• Courage

And don't forget to give. Here is how we're responding at Indian Creek Community Church:

1. 100% of personal or corporate contributions to Indian Creek’s Live Out Haiti Relief Fund will be forwarded directly to the relief effort. Give online and designate the funds where it says “Other” and write Haiti Relief in the “comments” section. We will also take a special offering this Sunday.
   · In the coming days, we will partner with others such as Heart to Heart International's Global Distribution Center work in KCK. As we have news about the volunteer mobilization, we will pass it on. If we hear of opportunities to provide on-the-ground assistance, we will pass them on, but with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army taking on major roles, civilian opportunities to serve may be limited.
   · We will gather supplies for Care Kits containing a specific list of practical hygiene items as soon as an Indian Creek leader steps in to lead it. We have all the instructions to accomplish this as a church! If you want to lead this effort contact Dave Geenens at Dave@inhancedleaderhip.com
2. We have a partnering relationship with The Church of God in Haiti, The Church of God (Anderson), has a significant presence in the country, with 233 congregations and 32,000 constituents. You can make an immediate donation to the Disaster Relief Fund by clicking here.
3. We are friends with Troy and Janet McMahon who lead Restore Community Church in Kansas City, MO. They partner with C3 Missions- the Global Orphan Project, http://theglobalorphanproject.org/, to build orphanages and clinics for children living in extreme poverty.

We continue to look for the best ways to help the most people. After all, that's what it means to follow Christ. We are his hands and feet of love, compassion, mercy, and provision.

Today, I came across a blog post from Mark Batterson that is a week old. I read it then, loved it. Read it today, loved it again. This time, I have to share. It's an excerpt from his new book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity:

Chapter 2: The Tribe of the Transplanted

Several years ago I had the privilege of attending
the National Prayer Breakfast held annually at the Washington Hilton Hotel. The breakfast is a bipartisan gathering of leaders from all branches of government and both houses of Congress as well as delegations of leaders from foreign countries. The speaker that year was Bill Frist. Prior to his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Dr. Frist performed more than 150 heart transplants as a thoracic surgeon. During his remarks, he talked in reverent tones about the moment when a heart has been grafted into a new body and all the surgical team can do is wait in hopes that it will begin to beat. At that point he stopped speaking in medical terms and starting speaking in spiritual terms. He almost seemed at a loss for words as he described that miraculous moment when a heart beats in a new body for the first time. He called it a mystery.

Heart transplants are a marvel of modern medicine, but it goes way beyond what medicine can explain or understand. The heart is more than a physical pump. It doesn’t just circulate five thousand quarts of blood through sixty thousand miles of blood vessels day in and day out. The heart has a mind of its own. Studies suggest that the heart secretes its own brainlike hormones and has cellular memory. So a heart transplant isn’t just physical; it’s metaphysical. Heart transplant recipients don’t just receive a new organ; they receive cellular memories.

In his book A Man After His Own Heart, Charles Siebert shares a scientific yet poetic depiction of a heart transplant he observed at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. Not long after, Siebert attended an annual banquet for transplant recipients and he was deeply moved by their profound appreciation for life. They spoke in reverent tones about the second chance at life they had been given. They humbly acknowledged their responsibility to honor the donor. And many of them talked about new desires that accompanied their new hearts.

Siebert concluded—and his research is backed up by numerous medical studies—that transplant recipients don’t just receive a new heart. Along with that new heart, they receive whole new sensory responses, cravings, and habits.

Siebert called this group of heart recipients “the tribe of the transplanted.”

When you give your heart to Christ, Christ gives His heart to you. And you become a part of the tribe of the transplanted. That new heart gives you a new appreciation for life. You humbly acknowledge your responsibility to honor the donor. And the cellular memories that come with that transplanted heart give you whole sensory responses, cravings, and habits. You literally feel different. Why? Because you feel what Christ feels. And chief among those sanctified emotions is compassion. Your heart begins to break for the things that break the heart of God. You become part of the this coup de compassion that started at Calvary. And that is the heart of what it means to love God with all of your heart.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

You know, there are times when I come across a song and it inspires me in an unnatural way. These days, that song is "Someday" by Rob Thomas. Besides the fact that I simply love his voice and the way that this song is arranged, the lyrics inspire something deep within me.

Maybe it's the idea of hope. Or, maybe it's the contrast of emotions represented. Maybe it's the charge to make a difference. Whatever it is, this song inspires me, and makes me think. Take a look:

Rob Thomas "Someday" from Snap Films on Vimeo.

And maybe someday we’ll figure all this out
Try to put an end to all our doubt
Try to find a way to make things better now that
Maybe someday we’ll live our lives out loud
We’ll be better off somehow, someday

So, my friend Judy Sturman has a blog, and she does something she calls "Three Word Thursday". I'm totally stealing her idea. Except, I'm going with Two Word Tuesday. After all, less is more, right?

So, for my first installment of Two Word Tuesday, it's been running through my mind all day:

Holy, Holy